BerniePortal

Broker-sold HR and benefits for small employers.

From $5/employee/mo 4.3 on Capterra

Visit BerniePortal (opens in a new tab)

Bottom line

Broker-sold HR and benefits for small employers, with direct Starter at $5/employee/mo plus a $25 base fee.

Stands out for: bernieportal.com/pricing prints four direct plans: Starter $5/ee/mo, Standard $19, Plus $23, and Enterprise $29, each with an EIN base fee after Starter.

Watch out for: Starter covers recruiting, onboarding, benefits, compliance, and COBRA only. PTO, time, payroll, and performance start on Standard, and each of those modules is capped at one approver and one subgroup.

Overview

BerniePortal is Bernard Health's HR and benefits platform for small employers. Brokers can sell customized pricing. Employers can also buy direct. Direct Starter is recruiting, onboarding, benefits, compliance, and COBRA administration. Standard adds PTO, time, payroll, and performance with one approver and one subgroup each. Plus raises those caps. Enterprise makes PTO, time, payroll, and performance unlimited.

Direct prices on bernieportal.com/pricing are monthly per employee plus a base fee: Starter $5/ee/mo with a $25 base, then Standard $19, Plus $23, and Enterprise $29, each with a $40/EIN base fee. Carrier connections listed include UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Anthem / BCBS, Cigna, and Aetna. Recruiting connections include Indeed, LinkedIn, Google Jobs, Glassdoor, and Mineral. No public trial day count is printed. This is SMB HR and benefits, not an enterprise HCM suite.

Who it's for

Best for

  • US small employers buying benefits admin plus COBRA in one login
  • Shops that want a printed per-employee rate instead of an enterprise quote
  • Brokers who resell BerniePortal with customized employer pricing
  • Teams that may later add payroll and PTO on Standard or Plus

Not ideal for

  • Global employers that need multi-country payroll as the core product
  • Enterprises that want unlimited subgroups without moving to the $29/ee/mo Enterprise tier

Key features

Broker HR portal. Agencies give clients a shared HR and benefits workspace.

Benefits enrollment. Employees pick plans during open enrollment.

Small-employer admin. Combines onboarding paperwork with benefits.

Pricing

Starting price $5/employee/mo
Free tier –
PlanPriceWhat you get
Starter$5/employee/moPlus a $25 base fee
Standard$19/employee/moPlus $40 per EIN, adds PTO, time, payroll and performance
Plus$23/employee/moPlus $40 per EIN
Enterprise$29/employee/moPlus $40 per EIN

Direct Starter is $5 per employee per month plus a $25 base fee and covers recruiting, onboarding, benefits, compliance, and COBRA. Standard is $19/ee/mo plus $40/EIN. Plus is $23/ee/mo plus $40/EIN. Enterprise is $29/ee/mo plus $40/EIN. Brokers offer customized pricing. PTO, time, payroll, and performance start on Standard. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 19 Sep 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.

See current pricing on BerniePortal (opens in a new tab)

Is BerniePortal expensive?

BerniePortal does not publish a price. It is one of 19 quote-based tools among the 25 benefits administration tools in our directory. 0 have a free tier, and those with a public price typically start around $12 a month.

  • 19 quote-based
  • 0 free tier
  • 5 public price

Worked out automatically from every benefits administration listing, so it updates as the directory changes.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Printed Starter through Enterprise rates on the vendor pricing page
  • COBRA administration is in Starter, not gated to the top tier
  • Broker channel plus a direct-buy path for employers

Cons

  • Starter omits PTO, time, payroll, and performance
  • Standard and Plus cap approvers and subgroups until Enterprise
  • No published trial length, only a demo CTA

Integrations

UnitedHealthcare Kaiser Permanente Anthem / BCBS Cigna Aetna Indeed LinkedIn Glassdoor

From the vendor's own site (opens in a new tab).

What's new at BerniePortal

No updates logged yet. Follow BerniePortal and we will email you when it announces something new or its starting price changes.

Follow BerniePortal

Get an email when BerniePortal ships a new feature, posts release notes or changes its starting price. Only when something changes, and you can stop in one click.

How BerniePortal compares

See all BerniePortal alternatives, with what each one does differently and a head to head for every pairing.

ToolFree tierFromMCPAPICompare
BerniePortal (this tool) –$5/employee/mo––
Employee Navigator Broker-led benefits admin if you want a larger broker network than BerniePortal's SMB stack. –Sales-quoted–– Compare
PeopleKeep Small-employer benefits with ICHRA-style health benefits instead of a full HRIS plus COBRA suite. –$12/employee/mo–– Compare
Eddy All-in-one SMB HR and payroll if recruiting and payroll in one login matter more than Bernie's benefits cart. –Sales-quoted–– Compare
Thatch Modern benefits wallet for teams that do not need BerniePortal's ATS-to-COBRA lifecycle. –Sales-quoted–– Compare
Employee Navigator

Sales-quoted

Broker-led benefits admin if you want a larger broker network than BerniePortal's SMB stack.

PeopleKeep

$12/employee/mo

Small-employer benefits with ICHRA-style health benefits instead of a full HRIS plus COBRA suite.

Eddy

Sales-quoted

All-in-one SMB HR and payroll if recruiting and payroll in one login matter more than Bernie's benefits cart.

Thatch

Sales-quoted

Modern benefits wallet for teams that do not need BerniePortal's ATS-to-COBRA lifecycle.

Your next step

Shortlisting BerniePortal?

Still deciding? Ask an AI assistant about BerniePortal.

ChatGPT (opens in a new tab)Claude (opens in a new tab)Grok (opens in a new tab)

Frequently asked questions

What is BerniePortal?
Broker-sold HR and benefits for small employers. Broker-sold HR and benefits platform for small employers. BerniePortal is listed under Benefits administration in the Work Insiders directory.
Is BerniePortal free?
No. BerniePortal is priced by quote — contact their sales team for pricing.
Does BerniePortal have an MCP server or API?
No. BerniePortal does not currently list an MCP server or a public API.
What are alternatives to BerniePortal?
BerniePortal alternatives worth comparing are Employee Navigator, PeopleKeep, Eddy and Thatch. The comparison table above shows free tier, starting price, MCP and API side by side.